THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
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Standardizing Retail Prices 
llcdil 1)1/ Mdrh- Lorh/idvL Ala., before the meetimj of the Southern Xnrseri/men's 
Assoriotio)! (it Attdiitd, Gd., August AO, 19/7. 
I N louthiii^' oil this ([iiestioii I realizi' that il is one 
with many pi'iekly points, and oin' tlial eoneerns 
almost (wery ('oinpany iepresmited in the associa¬ 
tion nK'inlim'ship. I lirin” to yon. ^entlenKm, no formula 
for imm(‘<liat(' ndief. I Itelieve tliat it is a (inestion that 
must necessarily lx* wmrkial by (h'griM's and liy education. 
(In'at movements laMjuiring tin* thoiough drilling of the 
school of ('xperiiMHM' aia' not accomplished oveinighl. 
I mmady hopi' to bring tin' suliject u|) at this lime for 
further enijihasis. This subject has already received 
many years of consideration and debate; it is a suliject 
Crops generally are excellent and prices of farm prodiieis 
are bigb. Inasmucb as tbe nursery business is only one 
branch of agricultuiav and the bulk of oui' liusiness is 
done with jieojile of or on the farm, the result is ajipar- 
ent. I Jielieve the time is rijie for the adoiilion of a 
much iK'eded stiffening along this line. 
I am not likely to cause the least surprise when I 
stat(‘ that there is a disconcauting lack of uniformity in 
retail prices. I venture to say that there is a variation 
of in the quoted retail prices of certain standard 
trees in oui‘ territory today. This does not mean that 
Strawberries growing in new ground. They are Big Joe and Chesapeake, two of the best. 
W. F. Allen Co., Salisbury, Md. 
that has from time to time been resurrected at associa- 
tional nu'ctings and argued over from all sides. Yet it 
is one I bat can not be safely drojiped. and one that sbould 
r(‘ceive our individual and collective etfoi'ts toward solv¬ 
ing; in fact, if we waiuld command tbe bigb eminence 
that our line of business deserves, its solution is imjiera- 
tive. 
I believe that the time is here when a plan of standard¬ 
ization of retail prices can be put in with tbe minimum 
of confusion. \Ve are entering a period of w bat prom¬ 
ises to be real prosperity for the nursery business. 
tbe seller obtaining tbe bigbest price makes a profit of 
500% or anything like it. It means that the seller at 
the low' price, if be be a retailer, is attempting tbe finan¬ 
cial suicide of Uidoading a surplus on a w holesale basis 
when he is staggering under a retail cost system; or if 
be be a wholesaler, is knifing the entire business struc¬ 
ture by unloading stock in a field, tbe absorptive capac¬ 
ity of which is extremely limited except at a cost in 
sales promotion that the wholesaler does not even begin 
to assume. 
The w'eak joint in our armor is that w^e fail to take the 
